Part of the Strongest Team
by Hanziii
Summary: Oneshot. Lucy wanted to prove that she was strong enough to be a part of Team Natsu. When her plan fails, and Natsu decides to take care of her, she is reminded that she doesn't have to be powerful. Eventual NaLu. [Set around the Tenrou Arc, so pretty early on]


Dusk settled on the town of Shirotsume as Fairy Tail's renowned Strongest Team stood in a circle, battle-ready. They had been sent on an emergency mission to stop a dark guild who had threatened to infiltrate the town with forbidden magic and lead to the downfall of many other small communities across Fiore.

Erza Scarlet stood confidently in her regular armour, not bothering to requip into something stronger until she could assess her opponents. Her blood-red hair fell smoothly down her back and sat graciously at her hips.

Lucy glanced back at her comrade as she gripped her whip, Fleuve D'etoiles, tightly. She was envious of how at ease Erza could be in a situation like this. In fact, both Natsu and Gray were equally as confident as Erza, as if they all knew the outcome of the battle already so had no worries whatsoever. Even Happy sat fairly content on Natsu's shoulder.

Lucy huffed quietly and moved her gaze back to the side of the forest she had been assigned to watch over, trying to mimic her fellow teammates confident composure in hopes that, just this once, she would be of some use.

A blast of light shot out from behind Lucy and the whole team span to face its origin. Natsu moved his head around the circumference of their make-shift base before turning back to Erza.

"There's more people out there," he commented whilst glancing behind him again. "We should spread out."

Erza nodded approvingly. "Yes, I agree. Natsu you can take the far right section of the forest, Lucy centre right and Gray take the left side."

"Huh? What about me?" Happy cried as he fell to the ground sadly, once again being excluded from the team.

"You'll be with me, of course!" Natsu grinned goofily as he picked up his companion and placed him back on his shoulder.

Happy's face immediately lit up once more and he yelled, "Aye, Sir!"

Lucy stood in place as the rest of her team dispersed throughout the forest. Once they were all out of sight she nervously placed her hand over the pouch that held her keys before making her way deeper into the forest.

 _It'll be fine,_ she thought to herself, _you always manage to pull through… Plus you have your spirits!_

At that thought she groaned, why did she always have to rely on her friends, including her spirits. Just once she wanted to be able to fight and win on her own.

A twig snapping drew her away from her internal dilemma and brought her back to reality. From the shadows, a young mage emerged and smirked at Lucy. The mage was much younger than her but she could tell from simply being in close proximity to her that she was much, much stronger. Lucy glanced around and could see towers of ice and fire being created on either side of her, a tell-tale sign that Natsu and Gray were deep in battle and were, most likely, having the time of their lives. She sighed with a weird sense of relief, knowing that this would be her chance to prove that she could defeat powerful mages.

Without giving Lucy a moment to react, the girl engulfed her in a mass of shadows. Lucy frantically reached for her whip and released the bright light of the celestial object. She flicked her wrist and wrapped the end of it around the girl's ankles, throwing her to the ground. This allowed her to escape the shadows and have a few moments to run deeper into the forest.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lucy hissed to herself, "you're _supposed_ to be fighting her."

Finally she came to a stop and stared intently in the direction she had just come from. The unfamiliar voice of the young girl echoed through the forest.

"Oh, c'mon girl! I thought you were gonna have a bit more fight in you than that!" She laughed and Lucy suddenly became frighteningly aware that her voice was coming from all around her.

She spun around frantically, searching for the source of her opponents voice. Behind her, the girl fell from the trees with a _whoosh_ from her clothes against the breeze. Lucy barely had enough time to face her before she was struck down again with her creepy shadow magic.

Grunting in frustration, Lucy climbed to her feet again and flicked her whip at the girl yet again. Her eyes followed as the whip sliced through her dark magic and the girl disapparated into a shadow before appearing right behind Lucy, pulling her hair back and forcing her to fall to the ground.

The girl sighed in exasperation, "Well I'm really bored so I'm just gonna go, if that's cool with you?"

Lucy dove at her angrily with a key held tightly in her hand. "No, you can't leave, you can't ruin my chance to prove that I can do this!"

She pushed the girl against a tree and whilst she begun to dissolve into shadows again, Lucy sliced the key through the air and summoned Horologium.

"'What did you do?' she said." Was the first thing Lucy heard her Spirit say which reassured her that her plan worked.

"Horologium managed to trap you since you're basically air whilst you're a shadow, so you're stuck in there for a while…" Lucy explained whilst looking around the forest, trying to think of a plan.

The girl groaned, "'Where are the rest of my team?' she said." Horologium recited, his lilting accent calming Lucy's nerves.

"Probably defeated by the rest of my team," Lucy sighed sadly, "While I spent all this damned mission trying to defeat you."

Suddenly, Lucy heard Horologium disappear and she turned to face where the girl now stood.

"Okay, it was all fun and games until you tried to get smart. Unfortunately for you, my magic also involves nullification magic, I just didn't use it on your stupid whip before because you're too damn weak and I wanted to go easy on you." The girl rolled her eyes. "But now that I know you're gonna actually _try_ to fight I'll just end it now to save you future embarrassment."

Lucy frowned and realised she had no way out of this, unlike the others she wasn't brilliant and physical force, and even if she was she would never be quick enough to place an attack on the girl when she had the ability to turn into a shadow. Nonetheless, Lucy stepped forward and released her whip again.

The girl sighed again and flicked her hand towards Lucy, immediately making the whip disappear back into its holster. Lucy used this opportunity to throw herself forward and use her signature move, Lucy Kick. Somehow, she managed to land a hit across the girl's cheek, throwing her across the clearing which the stood in. This made the mage even angrier and she placed her hand on the ground, darkness seeping out of her.

Lucy stumbled backwards. _Why am I so weak? With my spirits I can be strong, even with a few spells I can be strong but without magic… I can't get out of this. All the others can but not me._

This magic felt completely different from before as well, and before she knew it Lucy was surrounded by darkness. Unlike last time, this magic didn't just restrict her movements but it was suffocating and sent searing pain throughout her body. Lucy clutched at her chest as she tried to find air somewhere within the darkness. She had lost all hope, this time she didn't have her friends to save her. She was still a burden that held her team back, now that she had been beaten this girl could go and fight her other teammates.

Lucy's eyes felt heavy and suddenly the pain disappeared as she fell into a sleep of nothingness.

Lucy awoke when the ice-cold rain pelted harshly onto her bare arms and drenched her within moments. She groaned and rolled onto her side, barely able to move after her fight. The forest was silent and still, she had wondered where her teammates had gone, why they weren't searching for her already. Had something happened? Did they lose because of her?

Her hand moved down to her keys and she pulled out Loke's key.

She took in a shaky breath and held the key out. "Gate of the Lion, I open thee! Leo," she called and prayed she had enough magic or that Loke would decide to use his own magic to come through himself.

A gold light appeared before her and she sighed in relief as her arm fell heavily to the ground. Loke was immediately crouched beside her when he saw that she was injured.

"What happened Lucy? Where are the others?" He asked with concern.

Lucy glanced up at him with tired eyes. "I was hoping you'd help me find them? It's too quiet for them to be okay…"

Loke frowned but nodded and pulled her onto his back. "Okay, let's go and find the idiots…"

He could barely take a step forward before Lucy had rested her head on his shoulder and fallen fast asleep. Loke glanced back at her and smiled, before continuing to walk into the forest.

After walking for half an hour or so, Natsu and Gray could be heard arguing in the distance. Loke rolled his eyes and followed the noise.

"Guys!" Happy called from the skies, "I found her!"

Loke prepared himself for the sudden attack which was bound to come from the rowdy Fairy Tail team, and he tightened his hold on Lucy so that he wouldn't drop her. Natsu was the first to emerge from the forest, already shouting stories of last night's battle to what he thought would be only Lucy. Once he saw Loke carrying her, covered in scratches and bruises, he stumbled in his tracks and froze.

"What's wrong?" He stuttered in shock and fell backwards.

Natsu sat on the floor in disbelief. He should have _known_ something had happened when she didn't come back after the battle was over, but Gray and Erza convinced him that Lucy was strong enough and probably just got lost. She had Pyxis, the compass Spirit, so she'd find her way soon enough.

They had all agreed that if she wasn't back by morning they'd go on a search. Erza had known how much Lucy wanted to prove herself, and thought that it'd be a confidence knock if they had went on a search for her that early on.

Still, Natsu should have _known._ Of course something had happened to her, he would have heard her calling out for him after the battle if she was okay, she would have found her way back sooner. Why did they split up? He should have stayed closer so he could protect her. But he knew that wasn't what she wanted.

"Why didn't you help her?" Natsu asked through gritted teeth, using all of his might not to use his Fire Dragon's Roar on him right there and then.

"The only Spirit she called on was Horologium to entrap the mage, but apparently she had a nullifying spell which immediately sent him back. The only thing she could do was fight back physically…" Loke sighed as he gently placed her down on the ground. "I had no choice, I couldn't have gone, even with my own magical power."

Natsu's eyebrows knitted together as he frowned, "She was fighting that weird shadow girl?" He asked and Loke nodded in response.

Erza appeared from behind the trees and looked at Lucy sadly, "It seemed she pulled the short straw with this one, she was put up against the guild's strongest mage. To be brutally honest, it took all three of us to take her down."

Happy cried and fell to the floor again. "Don't you mean four? What about me?"

Natsu glared at the ground in frustration. He should have searched for her sooner.

 _Now look at her. She's badly hurt, drenched from the rain._ He thought bitterly to himself. _I could have at least saved her from some discomfort._

Loke glanced down at Lucy who had now been disturbed from her peaceful slumber and was tossing and turning in a cold sweat.

"I should leave," he muttered, "she's used enough magical power as it is and my being here isn't helping. You better look after her, she was pretty roughed up in that fight."

Erza nodded. "Thank you, Loke. We'll take her back to Magnolia now."

Loke slowly faded into a golden light and Natsu finally stood up and walked over to Lucy. He gently picked her up and placed her on his back, using his body-heat to dry off her soaking clothes. Lucy stirred from her sleep and moved her face so that it was resting against his scarf, the familiar scent and warmth that surrounded her made her subconsciously aware of who was holding her.

"Natsu?" She mumbled drowsily and moved closer against him.

Natsu smiled and started to walk towards the carriage which they had arranged to take them back to Magnolia. "Yeah, Luce?" He responded, unsure if she was fully conscious.

Lucy's lack of response confirmed his suspicions that she was, indeed, still asleep. Natsu sighed as he boarded the carriage, he felt guilty that he wouldn't be able to hold her and keep her safe for the journey home. He was also, for some reason, incredibly jealous that Gray had to hold her whilst she slept. The carriage started to move and Natsu groaned, resting his head against the window as he prepared for the long journey home ahead of them.

A warm light filled Lucy's room, pulling her out of her slumber. She lifted her right arm slowly, painfully, so that she could stare directly at the pink Fairy Tail guild mark tattooed onto her hand. Tears welled in her eyes as she let her arm fall onto her stomach. She felt absolutely useless, she didn't deserve to be a part of Fairy Tail's Strongest Team.

Lucy shifted her weight and felt something heavy restricting her movement by her feet. She quickly wiped her tears away and peered over the mass of blankets. There she found Natsu, sitting on the floor with his head resting at the foot of her bed, fast asleep. Her heart shattered as she realised that despite her attempts to protect her team, she has ended up being the one that had to be protected. She nudged Natsu's sleeping form gently with her foot and watched as he drowsily opened his golden eyes to gaze up at Lucy.

"Hey Luce, how're you feeling?" Natsu yawned and arched his back, stretching after sitting uncomfortably all night.

Lucy continued to watch him. "Sore," she replied with a broken voice, "Drained… I'm sorry."

Natsu stared at her for a few, long, moments before finally answering. "Why are you sorry, idiot?"

"Because you guys always have to save me," she mumbled.

A frown crossed Natsu's face as he fell into deep thought. Why was she sorry for getting help? And anyway, this time they technically didn't help her so they failed at their jobs. Natsu gritted his teeth as he momentarily thought back to his argument with Gray.

" _She's fine, dumbass, she'll just get mad at you if you interfere like you_ _ **always**_ _do," Gray growled and pushed his head against Natsu's._

 _Natsu scoffed, "When do I ever interfere, Ice-fairy? I only do it to help…"_

 _Gray rolled his eyes and pushed Natsu to the ground in exasperation. "You just admitted you do, flame-brain. Get over whatever little crush you have on her and stop stealing her thunder."_

" _I'm not! I'm just worried about her. If she's actually hurt and we haven't helped her then what use is it to call us her friends, her teammates?" He mumbled and begrudgingly crossed his arms over his chest._

He knew that Lucy was strong, she was the smartest girl he knew and she could kick ass with that whip of hers. Recently she hadn't needed their help as much which led to the others stepping back. Even so, that didn't mean that they had to completely abandon her.

"What's wrong with us helping our teammates out a little bit, huh?" He asked softly, as he slid up onto the bed beside her.

Lucy moved to give him some room but instinctively leaned in towards his warm body. She stared intently at her hands as she nervously twiddled her fingers.

"But it's not fair if I don't get to help you out in return!" She mumbled.

Natsu cautiously placed his arm around her and pulled her against him. Knowing how angry she would normally get if he touched her without warning he tensed, prepared to be kicked out of her bed and across the room, but he was pleasantly surprised when she leant against him and tucked her head under his chin.

"You do help us out, Luce, all the time! Remember on our first mission we needed a blonde maid?" Lucy lazily elbowed him in the ribs and he fake groaned in pain. "Nah, but seriously, without you we wouldn't have discovered the real truth about that book and it would've been destroyed. Without you, Loke would've died and never been able to return to the Spirit World. Heck you've summoned all your Spirits at once and drew the attention of their King, that's pretty damn scary. You're strong, Luce, you're smart and you're important to our team. You help us all the time, just because we have to save your ass sometimes doesn't mean that you're any less a member of our team."

Tears roll down Lucy's cheeks and dampened Natsu's bare chest. Silently he moved his hand into her hair and gently began to run his fingers through it. Lucy gripped tightly onto the wings of his open vest and pulled herself closer to him as she sobbed uncontrollably.

"Thank you, Natsu," she cried, her voice muffled.

A smile played at Natsu's lips as he continued to comfort her. "Anything for my best friend!"

"What about Happy?" Lucy's muffled voice questioned as she wiped her tears away with his vest.

"You're a different kind of best friend…" Natsu answered nonchalantly, "You're just different."

Lucy glanced up at him quizzically before returning to her original position with her head placed just over his heart.

"I… I dunno, Luce." Natsu scrambled to answer her questioning look. "I can't explain it, but Happy is like my brother and whatever but you're… you…" His brows knitted together as he tried to explain his feelings.

"I know," she mumbled, "you're different too."

Natsu's heart began to race as he questioned what either of them meant, and if they even meant the same thing. He nervously shifted his weight and felt Lucy grimace in response. Suddenly, he realised that she barely had any treatment for her injuries from the night before.

"Oh shit," Natsu muttered, "Sorry, Luce! Do you need me to get you anything?"

Lucy simply shook her head. "No, just stay here," she whispered. "You never told me what happened, did you beat that girl?"

"Oh yeah, we did eventually and we managed to stop the guild too. Erza has your share of the reward in safekeeping." Natsu explained and begun to tell stories of the events that she had missed.

Lucy closed her eyes and listened as he rambled on like a child at Christmas. She liked it when he sounded happy, even if the majority of the time his happiness was found in violence. His cheery voice and goofy grin never failed to make her feel warm inside, even if she felt slightly on edge from her previous battle. Lucy knew that once Natsu left she'd be haunted with nightmares from that Shadow Mage, and her close call of suffocation. She hoped that if she kept him talking long enough he'd stay another night.

Natsu had noticed that Lucy wasn't paying attention and knew something wasn't right. He gently cupped her face with one hand, and moved her head slightly so that their eyes would meet.

"What's up? You're trying to waste time or something?" Natsu questioned, uncharacteristically insightful.

Lucy blushed and shook her head. "I just don't want you to leave, that's all…" She paused in uncertainty before continuing, "I feel safe when you're here. I'll have nightmares if I'm alone."

She averted her gaze once more and felt ashamed that she was so hesitant in telling her best friend about how she felt. She was afraid of giving away the fact that she had deeper feelings for him.

Natsu nodded in understanding and held her hands in his. "Okay then, I'll stay as long as you need me too. You don't have to make up excuses, idiot!" He rolled his eyes and gently pushed her.

Tears filled Lucy's eyes once more. "Thank you, Natsu," she whispered.

Without a second thought she shifted her position so that she could press her forehead against his. They locked eye contact for a few, long, moments and the room around them became still and silent. Tears still slowly rolled down her pink cheeks and Natsu instinctively reached up his hand to wipe them away gently with his thumb. Instead of moving his hand away once he was done, he let it rest on her cheek whilst Lucy placed her hands around his shoulders.

Lucy slowly, cautiously, closed her eyes and pressed her soft lips against his before pulling away to see Natsu's reaction. Natsu blinked at her, his eyes glazed over. He placed his hand at the nape of her neck and pulled Lucy back against him, deepening their kiss. Both of their hearts were pounding as they clumsily moved their lips together. Lucy moved her hands into his messy salmon hair and pulled him closer to him, as if they couldn't get close enough. Their kiss was urgent and desperate, it felt like the most important thing in the world and to them it _was_ the most important thing in the world.

Finally they broke away from the kiss and Lucy curled up on Natsu's lap, trying to comprehend what had just happened. The world began to move around them again as the shock finally hit them. They sat in silence, the only sound to be heard was that of a clock ticking from Lucy's kitchen. Natsu wrapped his arms around her and held her close.

"I don't like seeing you cry." Natsu broke the silence. "I want to make sure you never cry again."

Lucy glanced up at him. "You always do that, though."

"Obviously not enough, I want to do more, I _can_ do more."

Lucy smiled and cupped his cheeks in her hands. "You do more than enough, Natsu, I promise. Everyone cries sometimes, but you're always there to comfort me and hold me when I do. I'm happy that I have you." She kissed him again, this time it was short and sweet.

Natsu blushed. "I know, but still… I want to make you happier than I already do."

The couple lay down side by side, gazing lovingly into each other's eyes. They had always loved one another, but they thought it was the love that was shared between the rest of their friends back at Fairy Tail. Finally, they both realised that it was different. Something that their comrades had been wanting to happen for months, particularly Mirajane. Lucy smiled to herself, grateful that Fairy Tail had brought her to this pink haired Dragon Slayer.

Lucy closed her eyes and she drifted into a peaceful sleep next to her best friend and the person she loved the most.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **Okay so just a quick little authors note here! Thanks for reading if you managed to get through this all! I haven't written fanfiction, or anything in a while so I decided to start off with a bit of NaLu fluff XD Anyway, hope you enjoyed!**

 **~ Hannah x**


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